This year the Bay Area Record Fair (aka BARF) brings together the best and brightest in local music from around the Bay Area to the Swedish American Hall on Sunday, November 6th. Their celebration of the local music scene and the people who help make it happen welcomes over 30 independent record labels (Alternative Tentacles, Melters, Death Records, Fat Wreck Chords, Father/Daughter, Empty Cellar...just to name a few) providing hours of browsing and buying enjoyment for you! The event is FREE and starts at noon, but you can get a jump on the crate digging at 11:00am with an early bird ticket for just $5! Get those early bird tickets HERE.

Besides browsing the bins and kibitzing with local label folks, there will be guest DJs spinning throughout the day, plus two huge prize packs being raffled off including Different Fur studio time, a U-Turn Audio turntable, Vinyl Me, Please subscriptions, Meze Headphones, SF Guitarworks guitar setup, Pirates Press credit, and more! Check out your raffle ticket buying options HERE. See you at the Fair!

Have you ever dreamed about communicating with extraterrestrials in a galaxy far, far away? How about making a mixed tape for them? This is essentially what astronomer, astrophysicist, and author Carl Sagan did with his Voyager Golden Record 40 years ago.

In 1977, NASA launched Voyager I and II into outer space with Sagan’s record mounted to each in hopes that one day the interstellar message would be received by an alien civilization. These records contain the history of mankind in audio: music of many cultures and eras, sounds of Earth (volcanoes, earthquake, frogs, birds, heartbeat, laughter, train, Saturn 5 Lift-off…), greetings in 55 languages, whale greetings, and much more (even images encoded in analog).

We may never know if the album was received by our extraterrestrial neighbors, but now YOU can experience this amazing document of Earth for the first time ever! In celebration of Voyager’s 40th anniversary in 2017, The Voyager Golden Record is being reissued for human enjoyment thanks to a team up between Boing Boing editor David Pescovitz, graphic designed Lawrence Azerrad, and Amoeba Music San Francisco’s own Timothy Daly. The only way to get one is to participate in the Voyager Golden Record: 40th Anniversary Edition Kickstarter campaign, which ends on October 20, 2016.

The cloth-covered box set will house three heavyweight translucent gold vinyl records. The LPs will contain the same music, greetings, and sounds as contained on the original Voyager Golden Record, which is nearly two hours of audio (see the complete track list below). The box set includes a hardbound book of images from the original interstellar message, photos of the planets returned to Earth from the Voyager probes, essays, and ephemera from the project's history.

By Dominique Gomez
Photos by Sarah Felker
This article also appears on DoTheBay

Con Brio is the modern musical excellence where funk meets soul. These Bay Area locals have developed not only a name for themselves in music but a name for music in the Bay Area. After a rigorous tour over the past year, hitting all the biggest venues and festivals throughout the world, Con Brio will find themselves headlining at the UC Theatre in Berkeley on October 14th, 2016 with Kev Choice and Kuchaw. Enter to win a pair of tickets to this show withDoTheBay HERE!

At the young age of 24, frontman Ziek McCarter rallies the masses with his desirably alluring vocals and unbelievably talented moves. His musical story began when he, officially, moved from Texas to San Francisco at just 18 years old. Surrounded by the enchantment that is of the Fillmore District, McCarter quickly found his way into the music scene ever so naturally due to his profound talent and stage presence.

Right out of their rehearsal space in Oakland, previously owned by a woodshop, DoTheBay's Sarah Fleker shot photos of the band in their natural element while we got on the phone with McCarter to get a closer look at one of the Bay Area's local heroes.

You can also shop local vendor booths that night. Browse used vinyl at the Amoeba Music pop-up shop next to a swamp! We'll be bringing loads of quality used vinyl so prepare to go crate digging. Also, don't miss your last chance to grab a screen print of the exclusive NightLife LIVE October design from San Franpsycho.

It's a proven scientific fact that October is the best month of the year, especially in the Bay Area. Costumes, candy, tricks and treats...and that's just for the adults. Make sure you celebrate with us all month long at Amoeba SF & Berkeley with our free and all-ages in-store shows, special sales, and events!